The fair value of land along the Mukkola-Karode national highway bypass stretch was fixed at Rs 5.25 lakh/cent at the district-level purchase committee meeting held at Collectorate here on Wednesday. The landowners had staged a protest before arriving at the amount, which is 53% higher than the market value.

A final decision on the price will be made by the state-level purchase committee and the chief secretary. The district-level purchase committee meeting began with high drama but ended on a peaceful note, with most owners agreeing to hand over land for widening of the national highway bypass to 45 metres.

Areas such as Kottukal, Kanjiramkulam and Thirupuram were considered on the first day of the three-day meeting while around 270 land owners attended it.

The meeting began with officials – including revenue divisional officer, additional district magistrate and deputy collector in charge of NH land acquisition – announcing a fair value of Rs 3.85 lakh/cent, which is almost 10% higher than the market value. Members of the Kovalam-Kaliyikkavila National Highway Action Council staged a protest in front of the Collectorate, following which district collector K N Satheesh agreed to revise the amount after talks with action council chairman V Sudhakaran, secretary Mani Rao and vice-president Rajaneesh.

Special deputy collector in charge of NH land acquisition J Jayachandran said the price of land having access to PWD roads in Kottukal, Kanjiramkulam and Thirupuram has been fixed at Rs 5.25 lakh/cent while it would be Rs 4.75 lakh/cent for those near panchayat roads.

“However, this will not be the final amount. The state level purchase committee meet will review the price and a final decision will be made by the chief secretary. The land owners have agreed to sign the agreement with us but it will be done later after checking the documents,” he said.

Jayachandran said the fair value was fixed after inspection of documents of land registrations in a five-km radius. “The base price was around Rs 3.42 lakh. Initially, an amount 10% higher than it was offered. Later after negotiations, the price was fixed at Rs 5.25 lakh,” he said, adding that buildings would be given compensation as per the PWD rate without considering depreciation.The committee will consider the interior areas in Kottukal panchayat on Thursday. The dates of DLPC meeting for the remaining panchayats have not been finalised.